He Loves Me, She Loves Me Not
by NarcissisticRiceBall
Summary: Fic for Goodwitch08. The drama of Meteor and Silver Hair Men is finally over. However, that does not mean there's no drama left for the Turks. There is still life to live and Elena learns that alone has more than enough drama to last a lifetime.
1. You're Such a Tease

**A/N:** Just a quick beginning note that will never appear again. This is a challenge/gift fic for goodwitch08. It's Rufus/Elena. Now, romance isn't my thing. I suck at it hardcore. So a warning now, this won't be cute or sappy or fluffy. I don't know if it will have a typical ending. Who knows, I don't plan that far in advance. Either way, it's got plenty of humor and probably some action because Rufus shooting things is sexy. Now that everything's settled, on with the show!

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I don't own FFVII

"And that's all I have to report, sir."

A young woman stood stiff at attention. She was not intimidated by the large wood desk or the austere nature of the room. Everything was clean and immaculate, not an object was out of place. The only thing that had the potential to faze her was currently the man sitting at the desk. His clothes were like the room, orderly and sterile, the only contrast being the black vest he wore over his white shirt and under his white coat. Currently, he had his sharp blue eyes trained on the woman obediently awaiting her next orders.

"I see. Thank you Elena."

"Sir."

Though the man before her had the potential to be daunting, Elena refused to be intimidated by him. It had been three years since she first met him and she was not the same rookie she was those few years back, despite what a certain colleague of hers kept telling her. She was about to leave the room successful, but, as if he could read her mind, the man smirked ever so slightly.

"You know, I'm quite proud of you, Elena."

Elena stiffened, painfully so, as she fought her muscle reflex to bite her lower lip. Everybody told her to get rid of that nervous habit, but it was called a nervous habit for a reason. She steeled her nerves and tried to put on a game face that would have made her other colleagues proud.

"Sir?"

It was not that she did not understand what was being said. On the contrary, she loved nothing more than when her superiors, especially the top of the top, paid her a compliment. She wanted nothing more than to make those she respected and admired proud. However, the fact that it was coming from the man before threw her off guard and set off a plethora of mental alarms. He was not one to pass out compliments in any way or form and if he did, it was never obvious and left a person wondering if it really was a compliment. But, for him to pay a compliment in such a straight forward manner, something was not quite right.

The first thought to flutter across Elena's mind was that she was going to die. She had done something to anger the white clad man and he was going to kill her. For most, that would have seemed a ridiculous thought, but for those who worked for this particular man, it was the most logical and normal thing to think. It was not like it had not happened before. Anybody who had a single active brain cell knew who Rufus Shinra was and what he could do.

Rufus watched her with a steady gaze, his small, self-satisfied smirk still in place. He was not blind. He could easily see the agitation growing in his subordinate's demeanor. He felt that the ability to make those around him squirm was a sublime feeling, but with Elena, he found it more amusing than anything else. He had to agree with another one of his subordinates, she was absolutely fun to tease.

"I said I am proud of you, Elena. You do such a fine work."

He watched her begin to fidget uncomfortably. She was becoming increasingly more nervous and for whatever reason, it felt like the room was getting warmer by the second. Never had she heard him continue to use her name. The way it rolled off his tongue made her feel like she could have a fever. She really hoped it was all in her imagination. Her skin was pale, she knew that, so if the heat she felt was real, it had to be translating into the mother of all blushes. However, she had no way of telling because Rufus Shinra kept the same expression in place and was completely unreadable to her. Swallowing some air, Elena recalled all the strength she had in reserve just to be able to speak properly.

"T-thank you, sir!"

Of all the times for her to speak appropriately, Elena knew she had failed. Rufus had twitched ever so slightly at the volume of her voice. While he knew she would probably not speak with her usual eloquence, he had not been anticipating the immense volume with which she used to thank him. Nevertheless, Rufus found he was adding it to the growing list of things Elena did to amuse him.

A bright pink flush painted her cheeks in embarrassment. The minute she finished speaking her eyes clenched shut as she silently berated herself for showing weakness in front of her superior. Currently, she had her eyes open, but she was staring at the floor, hoping a hole would pop up and suck her into the ground. Elena dared not look up at Rufus. Even though she refused to make eye contact, she could already feel his gaze sizing her up. She could only imagine what kind of disgusted look he had for her, or even worse, what kind of amusement he was getting out of it. Though she did not want to know, that sick, little, and twisted part of her mind needed to know. Giving herself a quick pep talk, Elena counted to three and snapped her head up at attention. Immediately, she was drawn to his blue eyes and was stuck.

Rufus was a hard man to read. Even those who have known him since birth had difficulty telling what he was thinking most of the time. Rufus liked it this way. He liked it that nobody could read him. That was what kept him at the top of the food chain. Keep everybody guessing and they will never reach him. That did not mean, however, he was expressionless. On the contrary, he had his fair share of set emotions he could convey without revealing too much. Of course, majority of them fell into his "smug bastard" category, or so he was told by a certain subordinate of his. That was fine with him. Besides, it drew out the most wonderful reactions from his only female subordinate. And, it was not like he was busy at the moment, so he saw no reason why he could not prolong his little hobby.

"Of course. I always appreciate hard work, Elena."

He purred her name out and just as he anticipated, she began to grow a darker shade of pink. How could she not? The way he was saying her name was causing her to lose all the strength in her legs. It was wrong, it was so very wrong. Rufus should not have this much control over her physiology. Elena felt like she was committing a grave sin by admitting she liked it. But that could not be right in any sense of the word because Rufus Shinra did not care about real things like relationships, how could he, a man who never cried or bled feel? Besides, she had affections directed more towards her other superior. He was a man she could see in a respectable relationship, not one whose his sole goal was to torture her by teasing her with compliments and saying her name with such a seductive undertone.

Before she could find words to say, let alone the nerve to say anything, the door burst open, breaking the tension like a hammer to glass. Never had Elena felt so happy to have her noisy colleague pop up. She quickly turned to face Reno, in order to take her mind off of her superior. Rufus on the other hand just gave the intruder a bored glance. It seemed his fun was over.

"Yo, Rufus!...Sir."

The "sir" was tagged on more as a fleeting afterthought than an actual term of respect. Then again, that was to be expected out of this one. Rufus reclined in his chair and rested his elbows against the arm rests.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking, Reno?"

"It's overrated."

Reno barely gave Elena a sideways look before tossing a stack of papers unceremoniously on top of Rufus desk. The force of the less than gentle placement of papers caused a few small items on the desk to stray away. While Rufus hated when things he placed in a certain way were disrupted, he tended to let it slide with Reno. There was no stopping him no matter what he did. On top of that, he was feeling fairly unproductive today, so his more neurotic tendencies were taking a back seat. He idly fingered the corners of some of the pages before nodding his head once and swiveling in his chair.

"I'm surprised you finished this early. Only three weeks behind."

This elicited a snort from Reno who crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, just be glad I finished. What was all that bullshit anyways?...And why does Elena look like her head's gonna blow up?"

It was not worth fighting the reaction. Elena slapped a hand to forehead and slid it down to pinch at the bridge of her nose. Reno jerked his thumb in her direction and looked curiously at Rufus. Rufus shook his head but smirked.

"I merely complimented her on the hard work she does."

There was a brief moment of silence before Reno leaned forward slightly and then pointed at her.

"Ya ain't gonna kill her, are ya?"

Elena was not sure whether or not she should take offense at that. But then, she was happy that somebody else shared her sentiment about Rufus and compliments. However, unlike her, Reno was more at ease with their superior than she was. It baffled Elena how Reno could show such apparent disrespect and still keep his head intact. Then again, from what she heard from Reno's partner, those two had always been like that with each other. He called it a "dysfunctional relationship that every psychiatrist would have a field day with." That was one of the few times where she heard him speak more than a few words. To say the least, she was envious of that easiness and she was not sure why she felt that way. Rufus Shinra was her commanding officer and as such, he should be talked to in an appropriate way.

"Or is it somethin' else? Hey, he sexually harrassin' you or somethin' Lena?"

"Aargh!"

She dug her nails into her face in the hopeless dream that Reno would shut his mouth. However, if she was not so busy trying to tear her face off, she would have seen the slight, but playful smirk on Reno's face. As annoying as he could be, Rufus was always glad to have Reno around on a slow day. He knew how to liven things up and Rufus guessed he enjoyed getting reactions out of people as much as he himself did. Besides, when Reno was in the room, Rufus did not have to do anything to be able to enjoy different reactions.

"What's going on?"

Elena looked up and immediately felt relief. If there was a person to bring sanity back into a room, it was him. Reno glanced over his shoulder and gave a lop-sided grin to the newcomer.

"Hey partner, guess what? Lena's all flustered 'cause Rufus gave her a compliment. Ain't she cute?"

There was a small twitch in her right hand. It was the same twitch she felt when it was time to fight and place a bullet between somebody's eyes. Before she could do anything drastic though, Reno's partner looked silently at Elena, and then silently at Rufus, before giving his attention back to Reno.

"Is he going to kill her?"

If he were not a master of control, Rufus would have broken out in a grin. He was not sure when this whole idea of him killing people came up, but he was enjoying every minute of it. Of course, it was even better that Elena continued to grow more agitated as time progressed. Watching her embarrassed reactions were infinitely amusing and fascinating for Rufus.

"Nah, but I think it might be sexual harassment. What d'ya think Rude?"

Once again Rude looked over blankly at Elena, then at Rufus before adjusting his sunglasses. Elena really hated how he always wore them. The man was hard enough to read as is, but with those sunglasses, it was next to impossible. Rude was happy with that. He was like Rufus, in that, he appreciated the benefits of people not knowing what he was thinking. Of course, that never stopped Reno. Most of the time, Reno just put words into his mouth. He gave up trying to say otherwise. He was a man of few words and his partner made up for it enough. For all he knew, Reno pulled his ideas out from out of nowhere but his mind, which had to be a fourth dimension or something. Like now, he had no way of knowing for sure if sexual harassment was the case, but from what he knew about his partner, chances were, he was being his usual, teasing, idiotic self.

"I don't know. Is he?"

He slid his sunglasses a little bit down his nose so he could make eye contact with Elena. Just the fact that he bothered to actually look at her caused Elena to swear under her breath. Now Rude was being just as bad as Reno. At least, that was what she thought. She could never tell if he was joking or not. Whatever the case, it did not matter. The point was, her face was going to melt off with the amount of heat she was generating. Swallowing the stream of curses that were ready to flow from her mouth, Elena indignantly looked each male in the eye.

Rude had his glasses back in place so she had no idea if she made eye contact with him. Reno had his usual smirk in place, aqua eyes watching her in amusement while Rufus had a similar expression. Elena was flabbergasted. She had no inkling of why Rufus was not upset or annoyed with the current conversation. Should not he be distraught over sexual harassment charges? If anything, he appeared smug and pleased with himself. That was what finally snapped her minute amount of control. She could no longer hold it in. Elena declared, or yelled in some people's opinion, the real situation.

"HE'S NOT SEXUALLY HARASSING ME!!'

"Who isn't sexually harassing you?"

If it was bad enough having Reno and Rude joining the conversation, it just became far worse. Elena slowly twisted her head to face the newcomer. The man she admired the most was standing barely three feet from her staring at her with a mildly interested expression. It was too much. She felt her mind collapse in on itself. A fine set of tremors coursed through her body as she clenched her teeth together in an attempt to keep from screaming.

"It's nothing Tseng, sir."

Tseng tilted his head to the side curiously as he studied Elena's reaction. He could easily tell she was embarrassed. Who would not be with those three together in the same room? He had been around Rufus, Reno, and Rude for a long time and he was quite used to their antics. However, it seemed Elena had yet to catch on and be more at ease. In all honesty, Tseng found that admirable about her. Despite their close connection with each other, she still kept a level of polite decency. Well, Tseng had to admit that Rude was also fairly proper with decorum, but unlike Elena, he was at perfect ease when Reno and Rufus started something up. Now for Reno, Tseng did not even bother thinking all that much about. If there was ever a rebel without a cause, it would be Reno. As far as Tseng was concerned, Reno seemed to only have a vague idea of authority and not much else. Rufus fell into the same category as Reno only his was because he was the final authority. Tseng knew that he himself always kept his propriety, but his colleagues' actions no longer did much to irk him. That only left poor Elena to deal with their insanity and inanity.

"If you don't mind, sirs, but I have things I need to get done."

Elena shoulders were hunched and her hands were in tightly balled fists at her side. Rufus decided that it was enough fun for one day and knew what little work that needed his attention had to be completed sometime today. He nodded his head once though never once did his tiny smirk falter.

"Thank you Elena. You're dismissed."

She had not the vaguest idea of what she felt at that moment. Finally, Rufus was saying her name in his usual smooth, no nonsense manner. She smartly saluted even though she never made eye contact and more or less stomped out of the office. When she exited the room, Elena immediately walked to the restroom, slamming the door shut behind her. Making sure it was locked, she stormed to the sink and looked into the mirror hanging above.

Dark hues of pink still lingered around her cheeks and nose and her usually tidy suit was slightly ruffled. She growled as she straightened her jacket with a little more force than was necessary and turned on the cold water with a huff. She cupped her hands under the water and when a sufficient amount of water collected in her palms, she splashed the contents onto her face. After repeating this process a few times, Elena grabbed the nearby towel and patted her face dry. Glancing up in the mirror again, she was proud to see most of the pink gone and her face was back to its normal pale color. Satisfied with her cleaned up appearance, Elena reached into a jacket pocket and pulled out a small black comb. She ran the comb through her blond hair while being grateful for having this color of hair. With her hair color, it would be impossible to see all the white hairs she must get from dealing with Reno, Rude and Rufus.

When she ran into a tangle, Elena had to grab the snarled chunk of hair and carefully work the comb through it. As she did, she grew envious of Rude who never had to deal with a tangle, what with being bald and all. She was even envious of Reno because when she thought of it, the few times he had ever run a comb through his mess of long red hair, he never seemed to ran into a snarl. Perhaps she should ask Tseng about what he does since his hair was never unkempt as well. As she thought about it, she let out an irritated growl and jerked the comb through the knot. The brief pain shooting across her scalp finally gave way so she could finish combing her hair. Now, it was silky smooth. Well, as silky smooth as her hair got anyways. As she idly played with it, Elena wondered how Rufus dealt with his hair. It was always so perfect and smooth. There was never a time when a single strand was out of place. The comb in her hands was thoughtfully turned over as she imagined combing through his hair.

"Gah!"

She caught herself just beginning to daydream and immediately slapped herself, literally. Surprised at her own force, Elena ruefully rubbed her cheek. It was a stupid and dangerous place to start daydreaming. Sure, she allowed herself a dream or two when she was in military school, but there was not a girl who did not daydream about Rufus Shinra. However, she was grown up now and beyond childish fantasies. Who cared that he should up at her school one time and she embarrassed herself in front him? It was not like she wanted to see him at school again. That would have just been ridiculous.

"Yo, you okay in there? Ya sound like yer havin' some problems."

Elena about rammed her fist into the mirror when she heard Reno's voice call from the other side of the door. She did not know whether she was more irritated by Reno's comment or her ability to be so loud. With much indignation, she whipped the door open and glared as menacingly as she could at him. At first, she thought she might have put him in his place, but lo and behold, she was quick to judgment. Reno smirked and patted her on the head patronizingly.

"Aw, no need to be embarrassed. I'm pretty sure Tseng has some prunes in the fridge. Ya know how constipated he always looks."

For the second time that day, Elena slapped her hand against her face as a horrible mental image that did not belong popped into her head. As Reno was laughing, a third person appeared behind Reno and cleared his throat.

"So, I look constipated?"

A glaring Tseng stood right behind Reno with his arms crossed. He just happened to be walking by when he caught what Reno said. Any lesser man would have given into embarrassment, but not him. Tseng was above that. That did not mean he was above a little revenge.

"Well, you'll look constipated too, once you finish this paperwork."

With an overly smug smile, Tseng handed Reno a large stack of papers causing him to sigh dramatically and droop his shoulders. Elena felt a small fraction of satisfaction from that.

"Sheesh, yer no fun, ya know that?"

"So I've been told."

Tseng pointed towards the main living room of Healin Lodge and Reno, like a recently punished child, dragged his feet towards the indicated direction. Satisfied with his subordinate's response, Tseng followed behind to make sure Reno at least did some of the work. He knew it would not last too long. However, the few minutes he could get out of his revenge, he would enjoy. Thinking Elena needed some time away from them, he politely bowed his head and trailed after Reno.

Elena sighed. That was the kind of man she could go for. He took nothing from nobody and managed to be all suave in the process. It was the kind of skill she truly admired. Feeling much better with the current situation and much more calm from recent events, Elena strolled to her room to maybe get in a small nap or read her new book. On her way, she passed by Rufus. The little angry butterflies in her stomach worked up into a flurry all over again, but without anybody else around to make the situation worse, Elena felt she was in control.

"Sir."

It came out simple, straight forward, and polite; exactly how she intended it to be. She was quite proud of herself and celebrating her victory to herself when Rufus acknowledged her greeting.

"Elena."

He kept walking but from the lack of the sound of a second pair of footsteps, he knew he got Elena to freeze in place. It was sometimes too easy. Then again, that was what he loved about her. All he had to do was drop his voice a pitch or two and say her name in a drawl. There was no denying it, Rufus Shinra knew the effect he had on women. It did not matter who they were or who they liked, he could always get his reaction.

And a reaction he got. Elena remained rooted to her spot as she listened to his footsteps fade away. She was over it, at least she thought she was. But once again, Rufus proved to be better at it than she was. It was a mean game to play in her mind, but no matter how she kept telling herself it was just a silly game he was playing at to get a reaction, Elena could not help but always be flustered by it. It did not help that she got the same way with Reno. The only difference was, it was Reno, not Rufus. Reno was her colleague and her occasional senior, not her employer and megalomaniac of Gaia. Not wanting to think any more on it, Elena growled in frustration and stomped towards her room and slammed her door shut.

Those in the other side of the house paused what they were doing when they heard the racket. Rufus walked into the room and all the Turks gave him questioning looks. He just shrugged. Honestly, he could not say why Elena felt the need to storm into her room. It was just amusing as hell. Reno leaned back in his chair and stared expectantly down the hallway. There were a few seconds of silence before all of them stared down the hallway when a very loud, muffled scream echoed down the hallway.

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**A/N:** Alright, it's written in a slightly different style than Stability. This is one of those omniscient third person thingy's. Anyways, what did you think? This takes place let's say a little bit after Dirge of Cerberus. The timeline will be a bit clearer in upcoming chapters. I doubt it will be that long. Six chapters at most, probably not even that. Well, I hope you enjoyed this opening little chapter and et me know what you think. Thanks for reading!!


	2. It's Not that Complicated

It really should not have bothered her at all. Then again, Elena lived with two of the most difficult men on Gaia. First, there was Reno. Yes, he was her senior and she accepted that, most of the time, but he seemed to live only to tease and irritate her. Ever since she first became a Turk he was always pestering her about something. Next, there was Rufus Shinra. Even worse than Reno, he was her absolute superior. On top of that, he had taken up the habit of teasing her too. The only difference when Reno did it and when he did it, Reno did it out of camaraderie, she hoped anyways, while she had no idea about Rufus.

The other two, Tseng and Rude, were usually spectators, so she never grew that irritated with them. Well, there were sometimes she became annoyed with Rude since he rarely spoke, hid behind those sunglasses, and was usually right beside Reno. Tseng was, well, in her mind, Tseng was practically perfect. He was considerate and polite to her, plus, he took his job seriously and was good at keeping the terrible threesome in check.

Thinking about it caused her to growl into her pillow and when she finally forced her body to be relaxed, she suddenly felt exhausted. While dealing with her fellow Turks was tiresome, she felt as if it were out of the ordinary for her to feel this tired. As she turned herself onto her back, Elena felt her head sink into her pillow and she reveled in how soft and cool to the touch it was. Relaxing into it, she let her eyes close and before she knew it, she was fast asleep.

"Yo, Elena, ya need anythin' from the,"

When Reno walked into Elena's room, without knocking of course, he saw her lying sprawled on her back. Her mouth was slightly parted and a small trail of drool was gathering at the corner of her mouth. He chuckled softly to himself and pulled out his PHS. Clicking it over to camera mode, he quickly snapped a picture and saved it to his blackmail collection. Snapping it shut, he slipped it back into his jacket and quietly walked out of her room, shutting the door behind him.

"I think we overdid it. Rookie's completely out of it."

Reno shrugged, yet was still smirking, when he entered the main living room. Tseng shook his head as he finished scribbling a list down on paper. After writing the last item, he looked the list over again, going through all the items they could ever need, before handing the list to Reno.

"Instead of harassing your colleagues, go to the store."

"Why me?"

At that question, Tseng immediately shot him a withering glare that told him to do it just because he was ordered to do it. Reno sighed dramatically and threw his arms in the air.

"Fine. I give up. I'll get the damn groceries."

He stuffed the list into his pocket and was about to open the door when he was stopped by Rufus.

"I'm going too."

"Eh?"

Reno, understandingly, was surprised, as were Tseng and Rude. Rufus Shinra never went out to get his own groceries. But lo and behold, the man was standing with his long, immaculately white coat looking impatiently at Reno.

"What are you waiting for? Move."

The clipped command was more than enough to jolt Reno out of his confused stupor. He was going to say something, but then decided against it. It was useless to talk about it. Rufus did what Rufus wanted to do and Reno had to obey.

Tseng was about to object about Rufus going out to such a public and crowded place, but when he thought about it, more damage would be done to others rather than Rufus, especially when Reno was with him. Actually, now that he thought about it, maybe he should send Rude to keep an eye on them. However, before he could come to a satisfactory conclusion, Tseng heard the front door slam shut. Most likely, Rufus and Reno picked up on Tseng's train of thought and rushed off before he could do anything. Feeling a slight headache approaching, he pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to keep it at bay. Taking a deep sigh, he looked across from where he was standing and saw Rude fidget with the knot of his tie. Though his expression was neutral as always, Tseng had known Rude long enough to know that habit. It meant he was trying to hide an emotion he usually kept in check. There was a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth indicating his attempt to not laugh.

Meanwhile, right outside the door, Reno was laughing aloud while Rufus just chuckled. Elena was not the only one he made into a target. Clamping down on their entertainment, the two of them hurried to where the helicopter was kept. It would not be any good if Tseng heard them laughing outside and came out to investigate.

Reno hopped into the pilot's seat while Rufus elegantly plopped himself into the co-pilot's seat. A small sideways glance from Reno caused Rufus to cock an eyebrow.

"Last time I checked, Tseng was Mother, not you."

This caused Reno to chuckle and start the engine. Both he and Rufus slipped on the headsets.

"Pfft. Whatever, just keep yer seatbelt on…and don't tell Mother…"

There was another brief wave of chuckling from the two of them before the engine was warmed up sufficiently and the blades of the helicopter whirred to life. The vehicle then began its gradual ascension until Reno deemed it high enough to begin flying.

Rufus sat quietly and stared out of the window. Dry, barren dirt went on for miles with the only vegetation an occasional shrub or weed. It really was not the most fascinating thing he could be looking at. Then again, there was not anything else of real interest either. He had been in helicopters enough times to not care about what was going on with them and when he glanced over at Reno, he softly shook his head. Reno was slouched in his seat, one hand casually resting on the cyclic, the other using the collective as an armrest. His head bobbed up and down to a tune only he could hear as he paid as little attention as he could in piloting the aircraft.

"I know I'm hot, but really sir, you shouldn't be so obvious in your staring."

A loud snort of disbelief came from Rufus as he crossed his arms and glared sideways at Reno.

"I'm going to kill you tonight."

Despite the chilling and threatening comment, Reno just laughed and adjusted his position in his seat.

"Sure thing. Just make it epic."

Rufus rolled his eyes at Reno who was now smirking. It was a fine line they played with and Rufus wondered if Reno even knew if he was always close to crossing it. As he pondered what ways he would be able to give Reno an epic death, or from his perspective, an epic kill, his mind wandered back to the days when ShinRa was in complete control and his biggest concern was how to displace his dominating father.

He never cared for the man whom he was forced to call "Father." From what he understood, not too many other people felt differently. Hated by everybody, but greatly influential, Rufus's father remained in power until Sephiroth saw to his demise. While surprising, it was hardly a sad day for anybody, especially Rufus. For as long as he could remember, Rufus had always been plotting ways to take over and gain that intoxicating feeling of having power over other people's lives. Of course, in his youth he made a few, and very rare, mistakes resulting in a chain reaction of events that would forever shape the planet. But in retrospect, everything did eventually work out to his benefit. Sure, there were more difficulties than he would have liked, but in the end, Rufus remained in power; even if it was a more subtle kind.

By secretly funding Reeve, he was keeping good to his claim of having changed his ways while at the same time, retaining his power. Just because he changed his original plans did not mean that Rufus Shinra was content with how things were. Change was going to happen and he was going to be the force behind it all.

"Yo, yo, yo!"

An annoyed pair of blue eyes locked onto Reno who was being a noisy nuisance. He was currently poking Rufus in the shoulder repeatedly causing him to growl in irritation.

"Keep it up and I will cut your hand off."

"Sheesh, overkill much? Besides, I was trying to tell you we'd be landing soon. Hmph, must be PMSing or something."

Despite the annoyed tone of voice, Reno still had a smirk in place. Rufus reached over and began to painfully yank Reno's hair.

"I heard that."

"Let go, let go! I'm going to crash! Sorry, sorry, sorry!"

Rufus let go of Reno's hair with a triumphant smirk and crossed his arms. No further words were shared between the two of them as the city of Edge came into view. Reno easily guided the helicopter to the outskirts of the city while ruefully rubbing his head where Rufus so meanly pulled his precious locks of red hair. Grumbling to himself, Reno finally paid attention to what he was doing. He carefully landed the aircraft and proceeded to shut down the motor. While he made sure everything was set, Rufus elegantly hopped out of the helicopter and looked around.

They landed at the outskirts of Edge and were greeted by the city of steel and ruins. The ruins were nothing but leftovers of a bygone city and the damage caused by a certain trio of clones. Even those three clones were shadows of the past that refused to stay in the past. Rufus idly wondered what the city would be like in a few years as it was finally completed. With any luck and no more mass destructions, it would soon rival Midgar except now, everybody could see the sun. While Rufus was introspectively assessing the city, Reno jumped out of the helicopter as well and joined Rufus in staring at the city. However, Reno had no clue as to why he was staring at it.

"What are we staring at?"

"Nothing. Let's go."

He gave no other explanation as he started forward with a determined step. Reno just shrugged and followed. Rufus was not one to share his thoughts readily with others, so it was not a surprising reaction. He just obediently followed behind at a more leisurely pace while still keeping a look out for any suspicious activity. Not that there was much to worry about, it would still look bad if he let his boss die. He would never hear the end of it from Tseng.

"Do you even know where you're going?"

Reno kept quiet for a while; he wanted to make sure before asking. However, he had the distinct feeling of being lost. He thought it best to ask Rufus, even with the threat of being shot, if he knew where he was going. Reno did not want to make a shopping trip into a day long event. Stopping dead in his tracks, Rufus kept his back turned to his subordinate who was currently being a nuisance.

"Of course."

With that, he kept walking proudly forward expecting Reno to follow right behind. He subtly looked around as he walked around, not really recognizing a whole lot. After the WEAPON incident, Rufus did not have much of a chance to see the world outside of Healin Lodge. When he had finally been in the city, he did not have the time to look around since he was too busy falling off buildings. Now that he was in Edge for no other reason than that he wanted to, Rufus Shinra had no idea where he was. However, he was not going to give Reno the pleasure of knowing that. Then again, from the questions he was now asking, there was a very good chance he knew.

"Sir, if we take too long, Momma Tseng is going to blow a gasket."

Making sure to not actually accuse Rufus of being lost, Reno carefully chose his words in an attempt to be allowed to lead the way. Rufus just snorted and kept walking. The only difference now, he was walking slower. Reno remained a short distance behind, but was able to turn when he wanted, and as a result, Rufus was indirectly led around. Thus, he still appeared to be the one leading the way. It was good for both of them that neither said anything further or indicated any knowing of what they were doing. After backtracking a couple of blocks and making a few different turns, they finally arrived at the grocery store.

"Right. I'm just going to grab this crap and we can head out…Do I need to keep you in my sight?"

Rufus made a "hmph" noise and walked off to no particular location. Reno shrugged and grabbed a shopping cart. Pulling out the list, he cast one last glance at Rufus before looking for the first item on the list.

Meanwhile, back at Healin Lodge, Elena was beginning to wake up. She lazily blinked the sleep from her eyes and rubbed the back of her hand against her mouth. She was fairly disgusted with the feeling of dried slobber. Hoping that nobody, especially not Tseng or Rufus, saw her, Elena sat up quickly and ran to the bathroom. Turning on the sink faucet, she splashed some water on her face and dried it off with a towel. As she examined herself in the mirror, Elena became acutely aware of a small cramp beginning to form in her lower abdomen. Elena let out a deep sigh and crouched down to the lower cupboards. Opening the door, she suddenly felt a feeling of dread. Carelessly scrambling around underneath, Elena moaned aloud. There was a reason she wanted to do the shopping this week. Speaking of shopping, it was around the time they always went grocery shopping. Who was grocery shopping right now?

"Elena? Are you alright?"

Elena started when she heard a soft knock and Tseng's voice on the other side. However, her head came in contact with the cupboard with a thud. She rubbed her head and assured her superior she was perfectly fine. When she heard Tseng reluctantly agree and leave, Elena plopped on the floor and had a very strong urge to cry. She truly did hate her hormones. Despite it all though, she was a Turk and should act like one. Sucking up the dull throb in her head and the growing ache in her abdomen, Elena freshened herself up and made use of much of the toilet paper in the bathroom before opening the door and quietly sneaking back to her room. On her way, she had listened to the main living room and heard Tseng quietly talking. It sounded like he was talking to himself, but Elena knew that meant Rude was his conversation partner. That meant Reno was out. It could have been worse. Of course, she would probably be made fun of it later, but at least it was the one person who was on a more personal level.

Seeing as it was absolutely necessary she get the things she needed, Elena pulled out her PHS and hit the speed dial key for Reno. It rang a couple of times before she heard somebody pick up on the other end.

"Hello Elena."

Unable to speak, or even move, Elena just held the PHS up to her ear and her mouth hung wide open. She was positive she dialed for Reno, so there would be no reason Rufus Shinra of all people would be answering Reno's PHS. The silence was deafening, for Elena at least.

Rufus, on the other hand, was trying to figure out why there was no sound coming from the other end. Was it really so surprising? Then again, he supposed Elena was not expecting her employer to be in possession of her colleague's PHS.

"Are you still alive?"

There was a muffled noise on the other end before Elena's shaky voice came on.

"S-sir! I wasn't expecting you…Eeh, where's Reno?"

"Somewhere…getting groceries."

Rufus cocked an eyebrow when he heard Elena gasp as if taken aback.

"Do you mean Reno left you alone, sir?!"

"I'm not a child, Elena."

Just as he anticipated, Elena's flustered voice loudly, and rapidly attempted to explain herself.

"Oh, t-that's not what I meant, sir! I just mean it's important to…"

He just let her go on and on for a while. Rufus knew exactly what she meant, but he felt like it was as good an opportunity to tease her since Reno ran off somewhere. Not that he was concerned about his well being or Reno's. He was just annoyed that he could not find Reno in a single grocery store. However, it gave him enough time to look around and grab a few snacks that he was never allowed to eat as a child. Reno always said a little processed sugar never hurt anybody. So, with that in his mind, Rufus had been trying to find Reno so he did not have to carry his own things anymore. Only at one point did he see Reno, and that was because Reno found him to give him part of the list to try and make things go faster. In the process though, he dropped his PHS and was gone before Rufus could berate him for his careless habits. So, he was now in possession of Reno's PHS. Turned out, it was a lucky break. He now gets to pester Elena.

"Regardless," Rufus interrupted her mid-ramble with his usual no-nonsense tone of voice. "What is the purpose of your call?"

Once more, there was an awkward silence on the opposite end of the line. Rufus was once more, very confused as to why that was such a difficult question. What did she want to tell Reno that she would not tell him? He was her superior and as such he has every right to know what she wanted.

"Elena."

Just to show he meant business, Rufus made sure to use his most authoritative voice. That way, there was no chance she would not tell him. Had he not been so concerned about why she just would not tell him anything, he would have thought about it might be awkward to just talk with somebody who had the power to terminate a life on a whim. Of course, everything made more sense later on and in retrospect. But at the moment, he was satisfied when she began talking again.

"Well you see, it's just that I…need some things at the store and um…yeah…that's all…"

"What do you need?"

Now this was just getting tedious. Rufus was all for efficiency and Elena's reluctance was not being efficient. He heard dramatic groaning on the other end and became even more curious as to what Elena was too embarrassed to tell him.

And of course, Elena was truly embarrassed. She was not deaf and could easily hear the growing irritation in Rufus' voice. It was obvious she was annoying him with her sputtering rambling, but it was not really her fault. It was all Reno's fault for not having his phone with him. Now she had to deal with Rufus Shinra of all people. It was bad enough when she first had to rely on "one of the guys" to get her the necessary feminine products, it would kill her to tell her boss to go get them for her. Technically, she had only asked Reno because he was her last resort and he was the closest thing to a brother she had ever had. At the moment, she would have gladly been telling this to Rude, but of course, Rude was in the same place as she was and as far away from the grocery store as they could be.

Deciding that she had been thinking to herself too long, Elena took a deep breath and bit the bullet. There was no reason for any of it to be personal. She would merely state the items that she needed without any details or awkward, childish phrasing. She was a grown woman and there was no reason to be embarrassed.

"I started my period and I don't have any of the um…You know…those things and um…since you're at the store and all that, I um…what I mean to say is…I need…that stuff…yeah…"

She just sort of trailed off, mentally berating herself for how she must have sounded. Plus, Rufus was completely silent on the other end of the line. There was no telling what Rufus was thinking about her right now.

That was indeed the case. He was currently standing in the middle of a food aisle trying to process, not what Elena wanted, but rather how she explained it. Details were a necessity in their line of work, she should know that, so the fact that she gave him nothing to work with was an annoyance. True, thoroughly examining the feminine products aisle would be awkward, but Rufus was already in a grocery store, how much more awkward could it get? Besides, he was Rufus Shinra; nothing was awkward for him, at least to the visible world. He was just that good.

Still ignoring the various, attempted subtle stares, Rufus strode purposely down the main stretch of the store reading each of the signs labeling the aisles. As he ignored even stranger looks from the other shoppers, he listened as closely as he could to the other end of the line. He had the legitimate concern that Elena passed out from her embarrassment considering how red in the face she becomes. All that blood rushing to the head had to have consequences. However, he still heard forced breathing and imagined her nervously twirling her hair or gnawing at her lip. She was prone to either one and he could easily imagine her doing one or the other.

As he was debating on which of her nervous habits she was currently doing, Rufus glanced over the various boxes. After examining the boxes, he forgot about Elena and was fascinated and confused as to the diverse variety of feminine products. It was a wad of cotton, how could it be this complicated? Concluding that he would be unable to pick something himself, it was best to consult the person who needed the said items.

"Elena, I need details."

When she heard his voice ask her for details like he would any standard assassination mission, Elena banged her head, thankfully, on the mattress of her bed. Her head rebounded up a couple of times before she answered. It was straightforward enough. She just told him the brand she normally got. Of course, his answer was,

"...That still does not help."

Now she was describing the color and words on the box in a clear and succinct enough manner to make it easier on Rufus. However, all she wound up hearing was disbelieving grumbling.

"…Dear Gaia…how many of them can there be?"

Never before had Rufus not been able to efficiently execute a task. He looked high and low and still could not find the box Elena was describing for him. He was now beginning to understand why she wanted to talk to Reno, which led to him wondering how often Reno shopped down this particular aisle. Chances were, Reno already knew what Elena needed and that little thought slightly annoyed him though he could not figure out why. It was an unreasonable thought, to say the least, and he had more pressing concerns. He pushed any unnecessary thoughts aside and was about to ask Elena more logistical questions when he felt a presence standing too close to him. There was only one person who knew how to violate personal space, especially the personal space of Rufus Shinra.

"Rufus…is there something I should know about you?"

Resting on Rufus' shoulder from behind was none other than Reno's head. Rufus swatted at the offending head. Reno smirked triumphantly and glanced amusedly at his superior. Normally, he would have just flagged him down from across the aisle, but when he saw him in the feminine products aisle in serious contemplation that was reserved for grave mission assignments, Reno felt it his duty to investigate up close and personal.

Of course, it was mainly Reno being Reno. He knew exactly why Rufus was standing like he was plotting the world's downfall through tampons. The PHS held to his ear was a dead give away. Not waiting for any type of response from Rufus, Reno reached around Rufus and snatched the PHS from him.

"Yo Elena, congrats on stumpin' our boss. Didn't think ya were the type to tease."

He had to quickly pull the PHS from his ear as the volume on the other end was deafening. The barest hint of an amused smirk from Rufus indicated that her voice was carrying beyond just Reno. When there was finally a break in her embarrassed outrage and vehement blame for leaving his PHS with Rufus, Reno quickly told her to calm down.

"Calm the hell down. I'm just messin' with ya. Don't know why yer getting' all flustered like that. It's just Rufus."

Reno ignored the pointed glare he received from Rufus at that comment and sighed.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Ya still use the same crap ya always do or has it changed, again?"

The confirmation from Elena was good enough for Reno who did not even bother to acknowledge he heard let alone properly say good bye. He just snapped the PHS shut and tucked it into his pocket. With a quick, cursory glance, Reno grabbed a box from the myriad of other pastel colored boxes, placed it on top of the groceries in Rufus' arms and moved a short way down the aisle. With the same speed, he grabbed another, larger package wrapped in brightly colored plastic and also gave it to Rufus. Rufus would protest later about being treated as a pack mule by making sure Reno filled out mountains of paperwork, but for now, he was reading the most recent package.

Was Elena planning on flying away with the pad? What made this one so great? As far as he was concerned, the other package next to it had wings also. Actually, they all had wings of some kind. Of course, while these thoughts were flying through his head, none of his curiosity showed on his features. If anything, people were whispering about how dignified he was about shopping for feminine products and that he must be somewhat thoughtful if he was getting such items for somebody, assumedly female. In all truth, Rufus was more than satisfied with this excursion as he absently listened to their gossiping. Seeing Rufus Shinra in a new, more positive light, would be a great step in establishing his declared change of heart. While he did not plan on achieving it through shopping alone, it turned out Elena's want of feminine products was a benefit. Unlike a certain redhead in need of paperwork punishment, he would have to reward Elena, even though she did not do it intentionally. Perhaps he would give her a day off to herself? Surely, as the only female in the Turks, she must sometimes long for female camaraderie. So a day off would probably be happily and gratefully accepted. That thought alone was enough for him to determine that he would inform her of his decision forthwith upon his return. And very unlike himself, and not to his own knowledge, Rufus Shinra did not expect anything from Elena in return.

* * *

**A/N:** So just a quick update to make feel like I haven't abandoned everything. I'm not even sure how this chapter was writtten. I've been so pressed with tests and papers I wasn't properly thinking about these things. Anyways, nothing too serious here. Just random stupidity on my part. Consider it retarded filler before something more interesting happens next chapter. It helped me get back into the flow of things. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. :P Anyways, let me know what you think or whatever else pops into your head. I would explain other things, but I can't think of what needs explaining at the moment so I'll just leave it alone and let you just send me questions if you have any. That being said, I hope you enjoyed the story!


	3. Strappy Little Number

"Honey, I'm home!"

Reno kicked the door to Healin Lodge open carrying an armful of groceries. Following close behind was Rufus who glared sharply at Reno. How dare he enter first and expect Rufus Shinra to follow behind. Of course, had Reno opened the door for him and politely let him go first, Rufus would have to shoot him based on the assumption that a polite Reno was an imposter. So, Rufus magnanimously allowed Reno to go ahead of him. However, Reno was not completely improper. He waited for Rufus to clear the threshold before he kicked the door shut with a bang. There, now nobody could say Reno was anything but respectful of his boss.

"Welcome back. Did you-"

Having heard the door being ruthlessly beaten by Reno, Tseng came downstairs to make sure Reno followed the list. Before he could finish haranguing his subordinate, Tseng stopped in his tracks and almost suffered a conniption. Rufus Shinra, the man who neither bleeds nor cries, was holding a grocery bag. Gaia must be topsy-turvy if Rufus was completing a menial chore. Reno seemed to pick up on Tseng's train of disjointed thoughts.

"Don't ask. He was dead set on carrying that bag…Kinda creepy not that I think about it."

He made a point not to make eye contact with a very miffed Rufus. But being the man he was, Rufus took measured breaths and recalled why he was carrying the bag in the first place. Having done that, he was again at peace. Thus, Reno was mercifully granted a quick kick to the back of knee causing him to lose balance and drop the groceries all over the floor. Tseng just shook his head. What did it say about him if such occurrences no longer incited him to lecture on propriety?

"Reeeeenoooooo!"

All three men in the kitchen were suddenly distracted by the slightly desperate, very excited sound of Elena's more or less screeching. Elena bounded into the kitchen where Reno was putting the groceries away. He looked over his shoulder and smirked.

"Glad to see ya missed me, babe."

"Don't call me babe," she said with a glare before shifting into a look of complete hope. "Um, where-"

She paled considerably when Reno pointed to Rufus. Tseng cocked an eyebrow while Rufus looked awfully smug for a man holding a bag of feminine products. Not sure how to respond to her sudden embarrassment, Elena whipped around and smacked Reno as hard as she could on his arm.

"Ow! That hurt ya crazy, PMSing bitch."

Rubbing his arm, Reno was unprepared for the onslaught of smacking by Elena.

"You're an idiot, a fool, a, a…a jerk!" Elena screamed before dropping her shoulders and began to mumble, "I'm sorry, I'm just upset, you know? It's not like I'm always a psycho or something but, what am I saying? Of course you know. I mean, you've known me for a while now. I thought I was okay with the president getting my stuff, but I find that I-"

Her rambling was cut short when Reno slapped his hand over her mouth and kept it there. He slowly removed his hand while saying, "I get it. Shut up. Get it from Rufus."

Elena nodded her head a bit too eagerly and sort of felt light headed since the blood in her body had already rushed to her head during her first embarrassment. She stepped wrong and wobbled a little, but instead of falling or tripping flat on her face, she felt herself steadied by a firm, yet gentle hand on her arm.

When she looked up, she came face to face with a concerned, yet somewhat amused expression from Tseng. Not expecting to be so close to her boss, she quickly mumbled out an apology but tripped over her feet only fall into the arms of her other boss. Not even wanting to know what Rufus or Tseng looked like right now, Elena did the only she could do. She stared pleadingly with Reno who gave her a sort of, why-the-hell-are-you-looking-at-me expression. But after seeing her absolutely defeated expression, Reno sighed and looked over at Rufus.

"Give her the damn stuff before her head blows up or something, sir."

Rufus always wondered why Reno even bothered with any honorifics since they always seemed like a meaningless word tagged on as an afterthought. But right now, he had more pressing concerns. Rufus could not prevent his smirking as he stared at Elena who was having a difficult time making eye contact. She currently was admiring the shiny cleanliness of her superior's shoes. It was impossible not to feel the scrutinizing stare boring a hole in her head. Elena bit back a shaky sigh and slowly lifted her head.

"Umm…"

What should she ask? It was obvious Rufus was purposefully trying to get under her skin, but he was still her neurotic boss who demanded a proper response or a properly formed question. So was she supposed to just ask, "President Rufus, please give me my tampons, sir!"

"Here."

Elena's eyes bugged out of her skull as she spastically slapped her hands over her mouth. Reno might have been on to something when he said her head might explode. Even more blood was rushing to her head while she berated herself for thinking so loudly that she said it aloud. Before she could even bring herself to look at Rufus, Elena peeked a glance at Reno who gave her an overly enthusiastic, two thumbs up. Of course it would be too much to ask for support from Reno.

Gnawing on her lip a minute, Elena settled her resolve. She already boldly asked for her feminine products like a Turk, by Gaia she would follow through.

She ignored the amused stares of her co-workers and grabbed the bag from Rufus before turning on her heel and marching stiffly away. When she was sure she was out of sight, Elena bolted for the bathroom nearest he room and slammed the door shut.

While Elena may have been out of sight, she was not out of hearing range. The three men still downstairs heard her rapid steps and the way she slammed the bathroom door. Reno shrugged and resumed putting the groceries away while Tseng shook his head and walked over to Rufus with a couple of files.

They briefly discussed the files' contents but were interrupted by another pitiful yell.

"Reno!"

Reno sighed and set down the bottle he was holding. Without acknowledging Tseng or Rufus, he brushed by them while yelling back, "What woman?! I ain't yer mother or sister, so solve yer own damn womanly problems!"

Despite what he was yelling, Reno still made his way to the bathroom where Elena was holed up in. When he approached, he knocked on the door and heard Elena growl in frustration before heaving an audibly defeated sigh.

"Reno?"

"Who else?"

"Can you grab me a new pair of pants…"

Even though she softly drifted off, Reno caught it and smirked.

"I feel like there's a 'that's what she said' comment in there somewhere."

Elena let out a small chuckle that sounded more like a snort in her attempts to hold it in. Reno continued smirking as he strolled over to Elena's room. On his way, he passed by Rude in the hallway who was finally curious enough to venture from the sanity of his room.

"Oh, hey Partner. Finish up the groceries?"

There was no noise from Rude, but Reno knew it meant an affirmative. The only time he knew something was off was if Rude started talking. And really, Rude enjoyed it that way. He walked to the kicthcn where Rufus and Tseng were calmly discussing something, most likely pertaining to the important looking documents Tseng was holding. If they did not bring him into the conversation, Rude was fine with not prying.

That was where he differed from his partner, Reno. Then again, most people differed from him. However, at the moment, one other person was being awfully similar. But the question was who was being like whom? A small smirk worked its way on this lips as he listened to the yelling match.

"Where the hell do ya keep your pants?"

"That's what she said and in the closet, ya idiot!"

"Dammit all Elena, where does all this crap come from?! We always wear the same thing!"

"It never hurts to have other stuff and it's not crap! Farthest to the left on a hanger! Now just bring me my pants Reno!"

At this point, the yelling banter drew Rufus and Tseng's attention. They looked over at Rude who was currently studying the groceries and the placement of the items in the cupboards. Wihout sparing them a glance, Rude just shrugged his shoulders and continued to try and determine the pattern Reno was using to put groceries away. So absorbed in his task, he did not hear his partner come up from behind until Reno grabbed a can from the upper shelf and set it on one shelf lower. Off by one shelf, Rude was pleased with such a marginal error and resumed putting the remaining groceries away at a faster rate now that he knew where things should go.

It did not take much longer for him to finish up. When he completed his task, Rude folded the bags neatly and put them with the other collected bags. It was an odd assortment of paper and plastic bags collected under the sink, but there was no sense in wasting. Sometimes a good plastic bag was needed to quietly suffocate somebody and a paper bag was good for covering somebody's head so they could not see anything. He paused when he contemplated additional uses for the leftover bags and decided it might be good for him to take a vacation at some point.

"So do those files mean we get something to do?"

Rude glanced over at his partner who had one arm draped over Tseng's shoulder and trying to see the files. So much for tact. Then again, this was Reno, so he was not the least surprised. Speaking of the tactfully challenged, Rude watched as Elena came waltzing in looking much more at peace than he had seen her looking all day.

"We have something to do?"

Elena's hopeful voice easily matched Reno's tone causing both Rufus and Tseng to cock an eyebrow. Suddenly realizing her slight slip of tongue, Elena blushed and smartly saluted.

"I'm sorry, sirs. How impertinent of me. Please excuse me."

Saluting as stiffly and smartly as possible, Elena held her breath. Keeping her gaze forward, Elena had the misfortune of having to stare right at Reno. Sometimes, when Reno looked at her like that, she really felt stupid. He tilted his head curiously to one side and scratched his head slowly.

"Yeah, see, clearly I'm not the only one getting a little antsy here."

Tseng shot Reno a reproving glare before shifting his attention back to the files and to Rufus.

"This should be taken care of as soon as possible. Besides, perhaps it would be good for them to get out."

Still maintaining her stiff posture, Elena began to feel the burning strain of keeping her muscles tensed for so long. It seemed as if they had all forgotten about her. She did not know what she should think about that. Did it mean her little comment did not cause any harm or could it be that they were annoyed, or even worse, mad at her? Maybe she just did not matter enough to merit any type of real attention? Before she could continue her pessimistic train of thought, she felt a large but gentle hand on her shoulder.

She looked up and over her shoulder to see Rude give her a small reassuring smile. Immediately relaxing, Elena resumed a more natural position and breathed easier. There was something calming about Rude that Elena could not quite put into words. Though intimidating, she came to learn that Rude was more of a gentle giant who could snap people's necks like twigs if he so chose. He was such a contrast to Reno. She was still baffled how those two got along at all.

"Elena."

Her head whipped around to face the origin of the voice. Tseng stared at her oddly a minute before clearing his throat and handing her one of the files he had been holding previously.

"Study those. Reno and you will execute your mission at your own discretion. Understood?"

"Sir!"

It was difficult to reign in her excitement. Tseng had chosen her to go on a mission. Normally, it would always be Rude and Reno, and Elena always wondered why she was left out. That was how it had been when ShinRa was still a ruling power. Sure, at the time she had been a rookie, but she was still a trained Turk nonetheless. There was no reason she could not complete missions just as well as the others. Granted, there was more than once occasion where she might have slipped up a little bit, but those things were out of her power, more or less anyways.

Actually, the more she thought about, the more she wondered why she was chosen. While she was thrilled at having been chosen, she now felt paranoid as to why. So caught up in her whirlwind of thoughts, Elena did not notice how close Reno's face was to hers. When she finally focused and realized Reno was a mere inch away from her, Elena sputtered and quickly backed up.

"Glad you could join us, rookie."

A small smirk played on Reno's lips as he called her by the old nickname. Elena would hope she had been around long enough and proven her mettle enough to not be called that anymore. However, it was enough to refocus her attention to the others. Both Tseng and Rufus had odd expressions she was not quite sure how to translate. But, as soon as she thought she saw them, they were replaced by the usual impassive and nonchalant expressions the two normally wore.

"Reno, Elena, you have until tomorrow."

Elena banished all other negative thoughts from her mind. She was a Turk and she had a job to do.

"Yes sir! It won't even take until tomorrow."

This caused the others to smirk and share amused glances. Reno was the only one who started laughing aloud. He swung his arm around her shoulders and ruffled her hair playfully.

"Hear that bosses? We're gonna have this done before tomorrow!"

Rufus smirked and for some reason Elena felt her heart flutter. She had yet to figure out why that always happened. When Reno smirked, all she felt was annoyance. So what made her boss' smirk so different? Well, he was the most powerful person on the planet even if it was now from the shadows. Elena convinced herself that was why it made her feel so odd. Though at the moment, she had a bigger concern; what was their mission in the first place?

She was about to look down at the file in her hands, but before she could open them, Reno grabbed it and carelessly tossed it to Tseng who was already taking his leave from the kitchen, now that the drama and excitement was dying down. Rude retreated to the living room and was now watching the news while Rufus was nowhere to be found. Elena practically slapped herself for not noticing when he had left. So now all she was doing was standing in the same spot with Reno draped over her.

"Do ya even know what we're supposed to be doin'?"

Even though she could not see his face, he could feel his breath lightly graze over her ear and she could practically feel the amusement rolling off Reno. She was loath to admit it, but Elena really did not know what they were supposed to do.

"…No…"

This caused Reno to laugh aloud again. He patted her on the head and separated himself from her. Leading her over to the kitchen table, Reno sat her down and explained the basic details of what they were going to be completing before tomorrow.

"This guy, and never ya mind who he is, needs to be taken out. Rufus doesn't like 'im so we don't like 'im either. Problem with a simple assassination is the fact this guy keeps so many damn bodyguards around at all times. While there are plenty of way to deal with that, the bosses want it quick and tidy, got it?"

Through the whole explanation, Elena eagerly absorbed every detail, few that there were. It had been a while since she was on such a straight forward mission. Assassination was never a favorite for Elena, but she knew it had to be done in order to fulfill her mission. A part of her hoped Reno was going to ultimately take care of it. She had only killed in response to violence against her, comrades, or superiors. To do such in cold blood suddenly seemed impossible the more she thought about it. But of course, she set her resolve and was going to do whatever was necessary to complete the mission. Not only were Rufus' plans on the line, but her pride as a Turk as well.

"Got it. How are we going to separate him from the guards though?"

Reno leaned back in his chair and smiled happily at her.

"I'm glad you asked. Why, that's what you're goin' to be doin'."

The sudden urge to lean forward and poke out Reno's eyeballs filled Elena to the brim. So strong the impulse, she even began leaning forward. Sometimes it felt like she was being punished for being born with a uterus. Seriously, it was not like she had a choice in the matter, so why did it seem like she was being punished and exploited because of it? Sure she was the only female in the group, but still, was that all she was good for? Was that why she was chosen for this mission? A giant wave of doubts crashed into Elena causing her to suddenly drop her head into the table. Her sad train of thoughts was then interrupted by Reno.

"Aw, don't be like that. I'm not askin' ya to whore yourself out to him. Just hear me out 'till the end, okay?"

A slow, slightly pathetic nod from Elena indicated that she was at least listening, so Reno continued.

"You're goin' to turn on the charm, separate him from his guards, and then take him out. I'll deal with the guards."

So she was chosen because of her XX chromosome. For some reason, that just took all the joy out of going on this mission. Be that as it may, Elena knew she had a job to do and she really was the only one who could pull it off. It was not like they could have any of the men try and seduce the target. So in a way, she was special that way. She realized she had something none of the others had. That made her special. Encouraged by her desperate reasoning, Elena snapped her head and pounded the table with resolve.

"Alright, I'll do it!"

Reno clapped enthusiastically.

"That a girl! Now, it's goin' to be sundown soon. This guy is known for frequenting a high class club. That's where we're headin'."

Elena stood up with a new wave of motivation and began marching towards her room.

"Alright. I'm going to get ready then."

Not waiting for any response from Reno, Elena bounced eagerly to her room but almost tripped face first when Reno called after her.

"How about wearin' that little strappy number in the back of yer closet?"

"Reno!"

She screamed at him as she rushed into her room. He spoke so loudly she was sure somebody else heard it too. There were some things she did not think were necessary for her employers to know and that was one of them. Following the rule of a little black dress, Elena always kept one on hand, but knowing Reno saw it and said it in such a tone of voice renewed Elena's desire to poke Reno's eyes.

It was horrible. She was horrible. Even though rational part of her brain told her such a thing was embarrassing and unprofessional in such a position as hers, there was a less ration and more emotional part beginning to rampage. That part of her hoped that Tseng had heard. There was always a part of her that desired Tseng, but pursuing such a relationship was a severe breach of conduct, so she always settled for just being of use to him. But she imagined that he heard Reno talk about her dress and fancied if it made Tseng imagine her. Then, as soon as she even began to play with such an idea, she felt horrible for thinking of her boss in that way. There was a barrier of propriety and right now, her brain was breaking down all of them.

Of course, the worst fantasy was when she applied the same reasoning to Rufus. Of all people, that was by far the worst choice for her thoughts. So inappropriate did she feel over her imagination that she began scolding herself and attempting to banish such thoughts from her mind. But the more she tried, the more aggressive her thoughts became. None of it made sense. She liked Tseng, she had a crush on Tseng, not on Rufus Shinra. Besides the fact that she was afraid he would kill her on a whim, any imaginings involving him just seemed so forbidden. But something about that risk and off limits aspect was damn appealing.

"Dammit! I can't let him win like this!"

She was, of course, talking about Reno. Though she doubted even he would guess her rampant imagination, Elena would not have been having this trouble in the first place had Reno just remained silent. Cursing Reno under her breath, Elena continued towards her room not paying attention to what was in front of her. On most occasions, she could get away with it at Healin Lodge, but once and a while, fate saw it necessary to make a mess out of her.

"Looking forward works better."

In the midst of her cursing Reno for making her think about her employer like that, Elena looked up to stare into the icy stare of none other than Rufus Shinra. No matter how hard she tried, Elena could not stop her mouth from dropping open slightly in surprise. Fully realizing what she was doing, she attempted to close it, but her mouth just refused to remain shut. The familiar warmth gathering around her cheeks added to the image of a fish out of its element.

"S-s-sorry, sir! I'll be more careful!"

All of Elena's effort was put into not simply standing there and gaping. Rufus just smirked softly and looked her up and down. Then, in the most gentlemanly manner, he turned sideways and made a sweeping motion with his arm allowing Elena to pass first. Nevertheless, Elena remained where she was and suddenly began to babble.

"Oh no, sir! I'm the one who should get out of the way. I'm so sorry, I'm such a klutz! I should have been paying attention. Please, sir, don't be so considerate of me. I-"

"What if I want to be considerate of you?"

Once more Elena was reduced to opening and closing her mouth in an attempt to form an answer. Did Rufus really say he wanted to be considerate for her? Some odd, discomforting feeling began to creep up from the depth of her gut as she processed his words and expression.

Elena wanted to see if Rufus was still messing with her like earlier. There was absolutely no reason for her to read into it even though she wanted to. Again, she reminded herself she fancied Tseng, not Rufus, at least seriously anyways. So why was Rufus piercing stare so serious and unwavering? It felt like her insides were rearranging themselves as a heavy weight of dread crept upon her unsuspectingly. In no way was there any indication of Rufus joking. He was being completely serious.

"Oh well…then I…I…I'm not worth considering that much, sir…"

She felt inferior whenever she was around him and even if it was completely contrary to what she should feel, Elena found herself having an oddly low self esteem when he told her that. In a natural response, Elena dropped her gaze to the floor in order to avoid whatever expression Rufus was wearing at the moment.

"It is not befitting to contradict me. Perhaps you should just take what is offered you."

The words were cold, but his tone of voice was not. It was too soft for it to be harsh and too teasing to be scolding. Now Elena was thoroughly confused at it all. Taking a deep breath, Elena lifted her head and made eye contact with her superior.

Rufus stared back with the same intensity as before waiting for Elena to do something. After a few seconds of eternal silence, Elena bowed her head in thanks and began to walk by. His gaze never left her form as she walked by and it was not until she was almost past him that he reached out and grabbed her wrist. To say the least, Elena was completely startled. She stared up at him with deep brown eyes. What he saw there was confusion, a hint of fear, and curiosity. Having grabbed her for a reason, Rufus held on firmly yet as gently as possible.

"Be careful, Elena. I do not want a repeat like before."

* * *

**A/N:** It's been way too long for this chapter. :P Oh well, at least it's here now. And I tried to catch my spelling errors since I've been epic fail at it recently and for some reason, spell check doesn't want to work. Anyways, while action is not a main component of this story, what kind of story would it be if there wasn't at least a little action and violence from our favorite Turks? So next up, Elena uses those feminine wiles while Reno does whatever it is he does. :D And what ever does Rufus mean? This and more next on He Loves Me, She Loves Me Not. Questions, comments, concerns can all be directed at me as you will. I feel like there was something I was going to explain here, but it escaped me right now. Whatever the case, I hope you enjoyed. Happy readings and peace out! =D


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